OpCritical is a secretive American music project spreading important ideas through upbeat rock music. By hiding their identity they politely remind us to focus solely on their thoughts and not on who they are. Their art is a quiet but loud protest against the mighty social institutions that are forever compelling everyone to fit in and conform.
Their new song, “Doing Fine,” is a gentle invitation to see how we handle the social expectations of our everyday travels. The song is an alternative rock, which has a knack for enveloping complex feelings in appealing melodies. It works because it feels like it’s both very active and very tired at the same time, just like how our busy days go by quickly even when we feel overwhelmed inside.
A steady drumbeat is the key guide that moves the music ahead. That solid tone pulls it all together, even when the other instruments get a little wild. The guitars are the real focus of the song, switching between harsh, urgent sounds that feel like abrupt worry and gentle, peaceful sounds that feel like a quiet longing for relaxation.
The singing goes a long way to conveying the weight of sentiment in the piece. The primary voice sounds fatigued but refuses to give up and strains hard to stay constant despite all the changing sounds. Soft background voices are like faint shadows to the main voice. They are the silent conversations that we hold in our own heads as we strive to reconcile our genuine feelings with the expectations society has for us.
This song is a detailed study at the heart of how our modern day culture is designed to seek complete conformity. Society is often like a great machine, and each man has to run smoothly as a part of the system. We are gently compelled to wear the mask of politeness and happiness so that the system keeps working smoothly with no interruptions. It exacts a cost from our real selves, a heavy, invisible cost.
The song is really about the quiet fatigue of trying to live up to those standards. Every day we fight a silent war to look steady and keep inside the lines the world has drawn. The amount of our inner tension we decide to show and the amount we choose to lock inside to satisfy the system causes deep fatigue that affects our minds and bodies.
At last this voyage provides a magnificent link to our everyday lives in a world that asks us to never shake or fall. And sometimes the most courageous thing we can do is not to be an ideal and unshakeable cog in the machine but to keep taking the next step. This song is a quiet reminder that there’s a subtle, beautiful win in merely persisting, that surviving our darkest days with hope is our greatest success.
For more, follow OpCritical on Spotify, OpCritical on Soundcloud